DPCC Co-Chair Cicilline: Democrats Will Deliver A Better Deal for All Americans

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressman David Cicilline, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on Fox News Fox and Friends to discuss A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future – a bold, new Democratic economic agenda being released today. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.

“This afternoon, the Democrats will release our agenda, that agenda is really A Better Deal for the American people. It's better jobs, better wages, better future. It's really focused on how we raise people's incomes. Folks are struggling. We want to make sure we have proposals that will raise their income, reduce the cost of their daily expenses and prepare them for jobs of the 21st century. It’s very much focused on a recognition that Americans haven’t been getting a good deal [and] that the system is rigged against them. They are working hard [but] they’re not getting ahead and we really want to focus on things that are going to raise their incomes and create good paying jobs and address some of the fundamental challenges they face in [their] daily lives. We are going to announce that agenda today and over the next several months put forth very specific proposals that support that agenda.”

“The system is rigged against hard-working people. We have multi-national corporations that have a tax code that gives them tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas and that hurts American workers. We have a tax code that gives subsidies fossil fuel companies. People understand there is secret money being spent in our elections to advance the interests of powerful corporations. People know the system isn't working right, that the economy is not working for them, that there are too many powerful lobbyists and special interests in Washington who are getting their way and not benefiting the American people. A Better Deal is about working on behalf of hard-working Americans who are getting a raw deal from a rigged system. And we are committed to making sure we create good economic opportunities, good paying jobs, making sure that folks can afford child care, have paid family leave, reduce expenses in their lives and also be sure they have the skills and training to prepare for the jobs of the 21st century. We listened a lot in this process. Our colleagues went out and listened to their constituents all across the country and this is a bold economic agenda, which, I think, will address the needs of working people.”

“This [agenda] is an opportunity for us to work together, House and Senate and Democrats, [and] craft a very bold agenda that came really from the American people, through our constituents [and] what they saw as their priorities. The ongoing investigations and all the conflicts of interests, all of that stuff is important, but we can do two things at once while we pay attention to that. We really need to focus on addressing the economic anxiety of Americans across the country. [Trump] spoke about those things, what, I think, you will see different in the Democratic agenda are actions steps we’ll take that actually respond to those anxieties.”